An exclusive interview with
Udaya Kumar Kanapady, Group Industrial Managing Director of PETRONAS Lubricants
International on business efficiency, industrial sustainability, and PETRONAS
Industrial Solutions
About
the Expert: Udaya Kumar Kanapady has over 30 years of
extensive experience under his belt in managing successful businesses, developing,
and embedding strategy, and taking organizations to new heights. As Group
Industrial Managing Director of PETRONAS Lubricants International, Udaya
develops the strategies and leads the development of the industrial lubricants
business, designing the industrial lubricants organization and driving the
growth agenda in the global arena.
As industries are
progressively moving towards adopting new technologies in their businesses, the
need to remain resilient and robust has become stronger than ever. However, to
ensure businesses and day-to-day operations can withstand the pressure from regular
business operations, industries require specific solutions to help them stay
resilient and future-focused. With demands on the rise, industries need to look
for suitable partners that could help them expedite their operations to keep up
with the current demand as well as increasing overall productivity.
Construction Today had the
chance to speak with Udaya Kumar Kanapady, the Group Industrial Managing
Director at PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI) on how its services and
products bring holistic solutions to meet the growing demands of the industry
while spearheading lubricant technology innovation, used across PETRONAS
Industrial Solutions portfolio of products and services.
Can you provide a
brief introduction/description of the PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
As the world comes together
to tackle the climate crisis, businesses need strong partners to help them
develop the resilience they need to progress and grow in sustainable ways.
PETRONAS Industrial
Solutions shares the determined passion, focus, and commitment of our customers
to doing business responsibly, working as one with their teams to drive
industrial resilience in a way that delivers sustainable performance.
We do this in two
ways:
• by deeply understanding our customers and their needs so we can build
strong, collaborative relationships with them and,
• by delivering
ever-increasing efficiency and long-term value through service improvements and constant technological innovation.
Can you tell us more
about PETRONAS Industrial Solutions and how it helps businesses achieve their
industrial needs?
If there’s one thing that
always gets in the way of progress, it’s inefficiency.
Businesses must run
smoothly if they want to develop, with as few nasty surprises along the way as
possible. They need products and solutions they can trust every day to keep the
machines, equipment, and people they rely on working at their best. With this
resilience comes reassurance that frees up thinking time and opportunities to
concentrate attention on areas that really matter – like growth.
PETRONAS Industrial
Solutions offers insight-driven services that help businesses improve
reliability, reduce operating costs, and free up potential – all because we
share the same goals and priorities as other businesses. Expert Solutions from
PLI is your secret weapon in your mission to do more, use less, and grow
faster.
• By sharing our knowledge
with customers’ teams through training, we help them to improve their
resilience and strengthen their organization.
• By giving our customers a more detailed picture of how their business is functioning operationally through the latest tools and services, we arm them with the insight they need to improve efficiency.
• By offering technical
help and diagnostics, we help customers identify problems before they take
hold, preventing downtime wherever possible and allowing them to plan ahead.
Can you specify which
industries PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is targeted towards and why these
industries are PETRONAS Lubricant International’s main focus?
With the pandemic behind
us, we see increased demand, a result of consumer spending recovery coupled
with population growth and rapid urbanization which leads to the rise of key
industrial sectors globally such as Construction, Mining, General
Manufacturing, Power Generation, and Agriculture.
These five key sectors are
vital to economic growth, and they all share the need to be productive, improve
efficiency, adhere to environmental pressures, and remain resilient in a
rapidly changing environment. These sectors are important to us, and PETRONAS
Industrial Solutions is able to help them reach the next level.
Aside from the five
industries, does PETRONAS Lubricants International have any plans on venturing
into other industries?
While Construction, Mining,
General Manufacturing, Power Generation, and Agriculture industries will always
be in our Top 5, PETRONAS Industrial Solutions also has a complete offer for
other industries such as Cement, Steel & Automotive parts Manufacturing. We
are also working in the Wind Segment, a sub-segment of Power Generation
segment.
We are always on the
lookout for new opportunities where we can offer PETRONAS Industrial Solutions
to prospective partners. We believe that as the industrial landscape continues
to grow, we are able to offer our solutions to many other industries in the
future.
As industries pivot
towards Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, could you tell us how these industries
could benefit from PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
Businesses cannot afford to
stand still, needing to adapt to changing pressures to stay resilient, never
mind grow. In the more challenging world of Industrial Revolution 4.0, they
must single-mindedly solve new problems to use less, become more sustainable,
and develop faster.
PETRONAS Lubricants
International needs to mitigate the threat of disruptive changes of IR 4.0 by
extending our offerings beyond core products. To support our industrial
partners as they pivot into Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, PETRONAS Lubricants
International has been at the forefront of identifying pain points that IR 4.0
might impose to businesses.
On top of the
high-performance fluids dedicated to emission reduction and manufactured in
increasingly low CO2 environments, PETRONAS Industrial Solutions also offers
value-added services such as Expert Solutions to help our customers stay
focused on their progress no matter what to build greater customer engagement,
and customer loyalty and intimacy.
Our comprehensive portfolio
is specifically designed to meet the rapidly growing industrial sectors. We
evolve alongside the demands in order to provide our partners with the most
relevant and bespoke industrial solutions – ensuring businesses run smoothly
whilst at the same time addressing their specific needs.
How does PETRONAS
Industrial Solutions assist these industries in overcoming the pressing
sustainability issue?
At PETRONAS Lubricants
International, we strive to deliver maximum value to our customers and the
markets in which they compete – and we do this while minimizing our impact on
the environment.
Our technologists pioneer
high-performance fluids that are dedicated to emission reduction and
manufactured in increasingly low CO2 environments.
Our R&T centres around the
world are constantly pushing at what’s possible, to develop end-to-end fluid
technology solutions that set our customers on a clear path to carbon-neutral
operation. As we enter the world of new energy transitions, we will be
investing substantial R&T funding into emission-reducing projects and
solutions.
Moreover, our approach to
fluids is to focus on whole system performance, with bespoke fluids that
protect and prolong the working life of every part of your vehicle or machine’s
system. This not only helps drive efficiency, lower costs, and reduce wastes
but inadvertently reduces the impact on the environment.
Finally, could you
walk us through the technology that PETRONAS Lubricants International uses for
PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
Our R&T centres around
the world are constantly pushing the boundaries of fluid technology to develop
end-to-end solutions that set our customers on a path towards carbon
neutrality.
PETRONAS Industrial
Solutions is our answer to our customers' ever-evolving fluid needs. Our
commitment to our customers transcends machines and lubricants. We seek to
empower them with resilience and strengthen their business sustainably.
Traditional approach to
customers' needs would have been about delving into the intricacies of
machines, metallurgy, and applications in order to come up with lubricant
solutions. What customers get from PETRONAS Industrial Solutions, on the other
hand, is a combination of advanced lubricants developed from PETRONAS Fluid
Technology Solutions™ and invaluable insights harnessed by PETRONAS Expert
Solutions' range of services.
Sustainability, safety, Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 initiatives, digital transformation, digital compatibility, increased productivity through connected machines and human-machine interface advancements are some of the things PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is looking to address in partnership with our customers just as much as we want to help them reduce their machine downtime and extending their component lifespan.
Find out more at www.pli-petronas.com
